The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for mounting electrically conductive balls which are used in the process of manufacturing workpieces with bumps.
One of known methods for forming bumps, i.e., protrudent electrodes, on a workpiece in the manufacture process of workpieces with bumps, such as flip chips, employs electrically conductive balls such as solder balls. With this known method, bumps are formed by placing solder balls on the electrodes of a workpiece, and then heating, melting and solidifying the solder balls.
When the bumps are formed on the electrodes of a workpiece, a flux is used to make the solder balls cling onto the workpiece electrodes with good wetness. Heretofore, the flux has been coated on the workpiece electrodes by application means such as a dispenser or a transfer pin.
With the conventional coating method using a dispenser or a transfer pin, however, the flux must be applied on a multiplicity of workpiece electrodes in a spotted pattern. Accordingly, not only has a considerable tact-time (i.e., production time for each part) been required to apply the flux on all the electrodes, resulting in poor productivity, but also the amount of application of the flux has been apt to vary electrode by electrode. Another problem is that the maintenance such as routine management of the dispenser or daily cleaning of the transfer pin requires a lot of labor.